Funding for SMEs

Innovation Challenge

“CTO of the Year makes gold from waste” – Pekka Koponen’s column in Kauppalehti

29 Jan 2013

Finnish Chief Technology Officers have stayed optimistic according to the CTO Survey 2013, which was published last week. Almost half of the CTOs believe in increasing their R&D investments and nearly a third their recruitments. The number has however decreased from the last two years.

Collaboration between the value chains of different branches of industry is more attractive in an increasingly tougher situation. Product development is done together with clients, suppliers and research institutes. Innovative SMEs from Finland and abroad interest all as partners and more of them are needed on the market.

Pekka Ala-Pietilä’s ICT 2015-working group’s report also promises to improve SMEs financing possibilities. The new funding program should bring 70-100 million new seed money in a year. In order for it to happen, the government must find competitive conditions to attract new money from abroad, industry and pension companies.

New programs which fund high technology SMEs have arisen in Finland, such as Tekes’ Vigo-program. These are suitable especially for ICT sector companies.

Mikko Kosonen takes forward Sitras Industrial Symbiosis program. Large industrial plants need to be very efficient to work in Finland. That’s why branch currents and waste have value. Large enterprises are rarely enough dexterous to benefit from these, because the business is relatively small.

This area has been discovered by CTO of the Year, Kenneth Ekman, who’s company CrisolteQ recycles industrial metals from cobalt to gold.